Best news of today!!!!!!

Some hardware loving Germans have come up with some "neue" details regarding the RV870. The details are said to come from an inside source.

Heres the break down: the GPU is going to be a 40nm part. Its going to have 1/4 (or +%25) more shaders compared to the HD 4870. The theoretical computational horsepower is going up to 1.5 TFLOPS, which is pretty insane (the HD 4870 has about 1 TFLOP.)

Im not sure if this is a translation error, or so some sort of hardware-freaks kinky pet-name, but the new card appears to have the code-name Lil Dragon. Not sure if this is an internal codename or just something some German writer guy with a job similar to my own just came up with just now to throw me off.

The GPU will be very tiny. The die is supposedly 205 mm². Compare this to the RV770 being 256 mm², and the GTX 280 being a big 576 mm².

DirectX 11 is most certainly going to be there. DX11 is generally accepted to be happening in mid 2009, probably with the first DX11 games coming out in the third quarter of 2009. My prediction is going to be that DX11 will actually bring some significant changes, and will exist, unlike DX10, which came (and will leave) with hardly anyone noticing. (And no, you will not have to upgrade to Windows 7 for DX11 -- itll be a download for Vista.)

And here is where things get really interesting. The HD 5870 supposedly uses some sort of cooling that ATI hasnt tried before. And thanks in part to the small size of the GPU, the HD 5870 X2 is going not have two separate GPUs -- instead it will be two RV770 cores stacked on top of each other, sort of like Pentium-D style.

If this is the case, theoretically you could put three HD5870X2 into one motherboard, giving you like six times the power of one of HD5870 -- now thatd be performance. Of course, back in the real world, things dont scale very well after 3 GPUs are CrossFired. But who knows, maybe ATI will work some CrossFireX magic up, who knows.

Disclaimer: These are all rumors. All these specs seem sort of reasonable and make sense, but none of this stuff is confirmed.

AMD's graphics division ATI has been expected to move to RV870 in a few quarters, and some interesting details on this new GPU have surfaced the Web today. A few weeks ago, ATI already unveiled some details on its objectives for 2009, and we've already learned that the company plans to launch 40nm chips next year. This time, we hear that the RV870 is going to be a 40nm part for sure. Also, the HD 5870 card based on this GPU is reported to come with a 1.5 TFLOPS computational horsepower.

The great news about RV870 does not end here. It will feature 25 percent more shader processors compared to RV770. That is why its performance will be highly leveraged from the 1 TFLOP that HD 4870 can reach today. Besides, the dimensions of the GPU will be lower considerably. The die is said to be 205 mm². For the record, RV770 is 256 mm², while NVIDIA's GTX 280 is quite big at 576 mm².

As expected, the GPU will feature support for DirectX11. Previous news showed that DirectX11 should surface in mid-2009 and that games based on it would hit the market in the third quarter of the next year. The new standard should mark visible changes in the market, and it will come for Vista as well as for Windows 7.

The RV870-based cards that will come to the market will feature GDDR5 memory, plus a 512 bit memory interface. According to hardspell, which cites sources from the manufacturer, the memory will have a 150-160 GB/s bandwidth.

The cooling system used on the cards will also be a brand new one. Since RV870 will come with such a small die, the HD 5870 X2 will not feature two separate GPUs, but two RV770 cores stacked on top of each other, the same we've seen on Pentium-D. If things go that way, users will be able to set up three HD 5870 X2 cards on a single motherboard, which would give them an extremely great amount of horsepower.

Hopefully, ATI will develop the CrossFireX technology so as to scale up well enough for three or more GPUs on the same system. If the rumors on RV870 and HD 5870 turn to be true, then we'll see a nice looking and great performing card launched by ATI in mid-2009.

I'll be happy when they move away from the RV7xx and give us this new hotness! I want them to really stick it to nV and not just make nV sweat a little when nV still has the card gamers really look for. GTX260 with bios voltmod ftw $175 MSI cards??? TOO GOOD

We already know AMD is working on MCM, and knew for months that AMD has/had keen interest in Sapphire's VaporX technology. The rumour was quashed time and again, and resurfaced time and again.

Oh, and once in an MCM, those two RV870 dice behave as one single GPU. Feel free to add four HD< next > X2 cards in a system. Again, the rumour of MCM usage itself has been quashed+resurfaced time and again.